Buy/Sell

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="05bfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B>What can (and should) be done about buy/sell?</B></div> <div> <B>6260 N.W. 19 Street, Sunrise, Fl. 33313 Toll Free 1-877-512-3333    Email: </B><A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U><B>mike@mikealbin.com</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="05cd2043.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike Albin.Com "><U>Mike Albin.Com </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wd.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web design"><U>Web design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Articles"><U>Marketing Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Show Reviews"><U>Show Reviews</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Tools"><U>Marketing Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="l.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>What can (and should) be done about buy/sell?</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> We've all been next to or across from an artist at a show who we either suspected of selling items he or she had purchased or knew outright was dealing in buy/sell. In some cases, when there was proof, we have seen some of those artists forced to pack up their booths and leave. And for most of us artists who spend hours making our own products, it's good to see shows enforcing their rules. Too often, though, there is either not enough proof to evict a suspected buy/sell vendor or a show simply allows the selling to go on.</div> <div> The buy/sell topic is probably #1 on most artists' lists of the most annoying problems we face. Just bring it up at any show, and within minutes, someone is fuming mad. What can be done to stop it? What can be done to find out if someone is really doing it? And even worse, what happens when someone has been falsely accused?</div> <div> Do we need to have a national registry of artists who have been verified as making their own work? Or do we maybe need a national list of people - I won't even call them artists - who have been found cheaters? Maybe that's next for Zapplication or Juried Art Services: Anyone submitting images to a show will have to have their studio visited by known artists in the area to confirm that they actually make their own work. It will be like getting "verified" on eBay or PayPal.</div> <div> For us artists who make our own work, it's almost inconceivable that someone would have the nerve to show up at an art show and sell items they have purchased. It's downright dishonest! But, nevertheless, there they are, almost every weekend - someone new who's found out that he or she can make a quick buck. It doesn't seem to bother them in the least that they are breaking the rules, cheating their customers and violating the law by committing fraud. They are just happy to be there and content to sell whatever patrons are willing to buy.</div> <div> Here's the next step down an even rougher road: Someone goes to an art show and buys a few pieces of pottery from one of the artists. The person who purchased the pottery then sends those pieces off to Mexico to have them mass-produced. That person then starts selling the work at art shows as his original work! As hard-working, honest people, it's hard to believe there are actually people out there who would stoop this low to make a few dollars, but it's already happening! Any ideas on how to stop them from doing it?</div> <div> I sent out a questionnaire to artists and show directors to seek suggestions and to find out what's being done to combat this problem. "First thing to do to avoid problems at the show, which we all know can be cataclysmic, [is to] know your applicants as much as is truly possible," one show director wrote me. "If you receive an application from someone you suspect or someone you have been led to believe is a buy/sell artist, you must contact them before processing their application fee. Explain the reason for contacting them, and discuss it with them. It is much easier to do months before the show than during setup. And processing an application from someone you suspect does not conform to the rules is dishonest. If the artist can explain the problem to you months before the event and prior to the jury session and assure you that they are not in violation, then go forward and process their application. Tell them that they may need to provide you with proof between that date and the show. This certainly will deter all but the most indignant offender.</div> <div> "It is also very important to bend over backwards to support this artist if you are wrong," the director advised. "You can even offer to sit in their booth and help them sell to make it up to them. If they cannot explain themselves, offer them their checks and slides to be returned. If they explain that they are not a buy/sell artist, process their fee and let them know you will be asking for verification after the jury process and again at the show. If they are not buy/sell, then you would expect them to ask to stay under consideration and they would know that someone with knowledge of their media will be at the show during setup to meet with them to look over their work. If they are not in compliance, then they will likely agree to have their packet returned before being processed."</div> <div> I got another really great response from Jay Downie, director of the very highly rated Main Street Art Festival in Fort Worth, Texas. "I attended the NAIA [National Association of Independent Artists] Director's Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in August, and this topic was discussed on a number of levels," said Downie. "Lawyer Magda Szabo gave a presentation about this exact issue, and whether or not an artist is actually committing fraud as a result of either misrepresenting the work as being handmade or removing Made-in-Taiwan tags (making it their own), etc. The problem comes with the fact that their work is misrepresented, which breaks a number of laws. For our part, we are going to strengthen our agreement to add more emphasis to the fact that misrepresentation is fraud, and the penalties are severe (as in federal penalties)."</div> <div> Most of the artists I spoke with would applaud this kind of enforcement. One of the current problems is that there are <I>no</I> penalties for misrepresenting work at a show. People doing this know that, at the very worst, they are going to be asked to leave and forfeit their space. I realize there are complicated legal issues involved in proving someone guilty and actually getting a conviction. After all, the real world differs from our perception of how thing should be. But if show directors would start to prosecute, with actual jail time and fines, we'd probably have a lot less of this going on.</div> <div> The DeLand Fall Festival of Art in DeLand, Florida, is one show that has actually tried to do something about the problem. "A few years ago, the Festival committee initiated a program," said John Wilton, one of the show's directors. "It usually involves three working artists (not in the Festival), each with a different area of expertise, i.e., painting, sculpture, jewelry. These art cops visit each booth on the opening morning of the Festival, looking for a variety of infractions, as listed in the Festival rules (printed on the application):</div> <div> 1. Does the work match the slides we saw in the jurying process?</div> <div> 2. Is the work completely original as opposed to assembled from bought `parts'?</div> <div> 3. Is the majority of the booth original work as opposed to reproductions?</div> <div> 4. Is the work for sale, not just there to win a prize?</div> <div> 5. Is the person who made the work actually there as opposed to a rep?</div> <div> 6. Does the body of work meet our expected level of quality?</div> <div> "Artists in violation of these rules are asked to remove items that do not meet these criteria and, on occasion, artists are asked to pack up and leave."</div> <div> Patty and I have participated in the DeLand show for the past six years and have actually seen the Festival's policy work. Several years ago, we all arrived at 6 a.m. on Saturday to set up, but by noon that day, the people behind us were already packing up - after they were found selling mostly buy/sell products.</div> <div> One way for promoters to learn whether an artist actually makes his or her own work came to me from an artist who chose to remain anonymous. "One possible approach is to encourage all shows to post not just the names of the artists, but at least one image from each artist on a Web site well in advance of the show," he wrote. "If artists peruse these Web sites, show directors/personnel should as well and find the same items being marketed under different people's names. Voila! A good start to proof that can be brought to the attention of the show promoters."</div> <div> If promoters who have shows on the same weekend would just cross-reference their lists of participating artists and also do a quick screening of images from the other shows, that could go a long way in catching some of these people misrepresenting their work and avoiding problems before the show even starts. For example, Coconut Grove Arts Festival and St. Stephens Art & Craft Show are right next to each other on the same weekend in Coconut Grove, Florida. Every year the two shows get together, swap lists of participating artists and look for duplicates. If artists are found to be in both shows, event personnel phone those artists and ask which show they would like to be in. They can't be in both. That is a start in the right direction: shows cooperating with each other to weed out people trying to break the rules.</div> <div> Another good idea came from an artist suggesting that if a show director has suspicions about an exhibitor with suspected buy/sell, he or she can ask the artist in question to bring in six-months' worth of supply invoices. Most of us need to buy supplies to produce our work, and anyone who actually does his or her work can come up with a few invoices of supply purchases. However, it's going to be very difficult for someone to forge six months of orders. This needs to be done before the show, before the questioned artist ever arrives.</div> <div> "Is there anything we can really do?" wrote another artist, who also happens to be a gallery owner. "As an artist at a show, you know the other person is there trying to make a living on the street, as we are. We know if we tattle on the person, we are hurting them financially but at the same time encouraging them to better their work. It depends on the show. I personally have written letters to shows when I receive their application, saying I won't participate in the show until they enforce their own rules of quality and originality. (Plantation in Fort Lauderdale is the most recent.) But I don't rely on the shows as much as I used to for income, so I can do that. It is the promoters' responsibility to police the show. I think it is our responsibility as artists to let the promoter know, because so many of them are not artists and don't know what it takes to do the work. It would be better if a group were to approach the promoter. Otherwise, good luck."</div> <div> I know this is a hot-button issue for most of us. If you are an artist or show director who has a creative solution to this problem, one that does not involve physical injury to said offenders (I've actually already had a few of those), please e-mail me at mike@mikealbin.com. I'll try to share some of the solutions in a later article.</div> <div> I've received a few letters this month, all on the same topic: Artists are getting rejected from so many Zapp shows that they used to get into. If it makes you all feel any better, Patty and I get rejected too. Writing for <I><B>SA</B></I>, to this point anyway, has not gotten me any invitations into shows, so I have been on a quest to find out what it takes to get into the best shows on a consistent basis. I have sat in on juries, interviewed quite a few show directors and attended every seminar I could, including Amy Amdur's Artist Boot Camp, which includes a mock jury. When Patty and I receive our rejections, I usually write back and ask what our score was, how close we came to making it in, and what tips the director has for us to improve our images and our scores.</div> <div> This is what I have learned: If your images are really good and are done with professional lighting, backgrounds and cameras, you are already in the top 65-70 percent of Zapp applicants. In contrast, 30-35 percent of the images received by Zapp shows are poor quality and have very little, if any, chance of getting accepted. These images often have improper lighting, are partially out of focus, have no professional background, are cropped wrong, or all of the above.</div> <div> If you are one of the artists with all the right stuff, it really just boils down to numbers. More applications mean more artists are receiving rejections letters. I know it's extremely frustrating, but don't take it personally. Patty and I won Best in Show (2-D) at a show in 2003 and were jury exempt in 2004. But we've been juried out for three straight years since! We made <I>only</I> $21,000 there in 2004, so you can imagine how we felt after getting rejected! The only advice I can give is: Improve your images! Get a group of fellow artists together to review each other's images, and use the images that your artist friends think have the best appeal. This won't get you into every show, but, hopefully, it will increase your odds of acceptance. Have a great season and, remember, enjoy your artistic adventures<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >!</FONT></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>